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The Lord’s Prayer in Georgian

After nearly eight years in Georgia, to my embarrassment, I still can’t have a conversation in Georgian, but from my first days here, I learnt the Lord’s Prayer (მამაო ჩვენო – mamao chveno) by heart. I say it every morning before breakfast, it is usually the only prayer I say in the day, unlike my devout Georgian wife, who spends at least 15 minutes often more, saying her prayers. One of the conditions my wife had for our marriage was that I should be baptised into the Orthodox Church before the wedding. For this ceremony, I learnt mamao chveno (the Lord’s Prayer) by heart. I know the prayer in English, but when I am saying the Georgian words, it is strange, I do not actually know the meaning of the words as I say them apart from a few like “პური ჩვენი (puri chveni)” meaning “our bread”.

Here is the prayer with transliteration in the Roman alphabet beneath each line.